The Netflix Way: Making financial advice a subscription service

Thursday 21st May 2020Justin Cleveland

Netflix, Stan, and Disney may have some new competition. Pitch Labs, a product of Pitcher Partners Adelaide, is taking on the account and advisory industry by revising how people pay for financial advice.

"We know that businesses don’t always engage with their accountant on a regular basis. A catch-up, or phone call, typically results in a bill. We have removed this anxiety by enabling fixed billing on a subscription service."

Morris says this change will enable a deeper connection with clients because advisers and accountants won't be chasing incremental hours. That, in turn, will mean more people will engage with an adviser – many for the first time.

It's all about lowering the barrier to entry. "The advice isn't free," he says. "However, the model is far less intimidating now. People can dip their toe in knowing they can unsubscribe at any point."

COVID-19 as inspiration to outsource

Morris says that current market conditions are a good reason to review the concept of outsourcing. "COVID-19 actually represents a great opportunity for Pitch Labs, with a number of companies likely having put staff into hibernation, standing them down or worst case, having made redundancies. I suspect there will be reluctance in rehiring staff, certainly in any full-time capacity, which opens the door for companies to explore the many and varied benefits of the outsourced model."

This change will also mean a move toward more proactive advice. "Because relationships will be less transactional, they can be more commercially-focused."

Measuring success

Pitch Labs plans to use a variety of models to judge the success of the change to a subscription model for advisers. "Customer lifetime value, annual contract value and churn are the obvious subscription metrics that point to success," says Morris.

The value to advisers will be in stable income. "Income will be less volatile and more predictable, which in turn will support the strategic growth of firms."

"Gone are the days of the rate card, in fact the new model encourages clients to pick up the phone and interact with their advisors" says Pitch Labs co-founder Keegan Sard.